i894- 



GARDENING. 



91 



fuse in their thanks for the same, really 

 meaning it, nowadays, however, as even 

 our finest blooms cut from outside ranks 

 as a sorry third or fourth with that from 

 the greenhouse, we feci scrupulous about 

 cutting and ofTering them to anyone But 

 don't despair. With choice varieties, an 

 open sheltered place, good soil, strong 

 young plants of healthy early kinds to be- 

 gin with, a mulch and liberal waterings 

 in summer, timely staking and tying, 

 thinning out overcrowding and vv'orth- 

 less wood, a sharp eye on bud or tip 

 shoot, insects, and early, repeated and 

 severe disbudding of flower buds and side 

 shoots, should get some very fine flowers 

 for us. One of our neighbors remarked 

 the other morning "When in New York 



the other day I was passing the 



florist's, and stopped for a quarter of an 

 hour looking in at his window, the chrys- 

 anthemums there were grand, and such 

 lots of them. As I looked upon those 

 magnificent flowers and thought of the 

 pails of water I used to carry to my plants 

 at night all summer long and what my 

 flowers are now alongside of those green- 

 house beauties, it made me feel sick." 

 Don't do that; try again and with more 

 painstaking than before, and if that isn't 

 enough, build a little greenhouse, chrys- 

 anthemums are only one of many plants 

 you will enjoy in it. 



Trees and Shrubs. 



WINTER PROTECTION. 



It is now time to apply whatever win- 

 ter protection we mean to give to our 

 trees and shrubs, no matter how mild the 

 weather may be. There is often greater 

 harm done by protecting too early in the 

 season than by delaying it till Christmas; 

 in fact, there is safety in letting the plants 

 get pretty well inured to the weather be- 

 fore we cover them up to save them 

 from long-continued severe cold. 



There is verj- little pleasure in planting 

 unreliably hardy trees for permanent 

 eft'ect. As far north as Xew Yorkthesemay 

 consist of evergreen magnolia, deodar, 

 Xemu acacia, Idesia, and the like; because 

 thej' may live uninjured for a few j-ears 

 in succession in sheltered places is no rea- 

 son why we should class them as hardy, 

 for they are not. 



Have a good windbreak to the north 

 and west sides of j'our tender trees and 

 choice plantations or bedsofyoung stock; 

 this may consist of a belt of deciduous 

 and evergreen hardy trees, a board fence, 

 contiguous buildings, or a roll of land or 

 an embankment. If there is no perma- 

 nent shelter ot this sort, erect a tempo- 

 rary one of boards, corn stalks, or ever- 

 green branches. And if the individuals are 

 still too tenderfor this,as is the case with 

 Maffnolia grand! flora, gather the branches 

 together, tying them as close into 

 the stem as practicable without hurting 

 them and then set barrels (out of which 

 the heads and bottoms had been knocked) 

 one above the other over the tree enclos- 

 ing the branches and hold them in place 

 by strapping them between long poles 

 and bracing these in the ground. Or 

 wrap them around with straw rope or 

 burlap. Deciduous trees like Acacia 

 Nenm may have their branches cut in 

 prettj' well before tying them together, 

 and encasing them in barrels or burlap. 



In the case of shrubs that arc not relia- 

 bly hardy, for instance crape myrtles, 

 pomegranate, leycesteria, several ever- 

 green euonymuses, and the like, the best 

 way is to lift them, and heel them into 



the ground in a pit, close shed or cold cel- 

 lar, transplanting them to the open gar- 

 den again in spring. If it is meant that 

 they shall be leit in the garden over win- 

 ter, mulch them a foot deep or more with 

 tree leaves packed firm, and place barrels 

 or boxes over their tops, or tie them into 

 a stout stake and wrap them up with 

 burlap, oiled muslin, or straw rope. 



If rhododendrons are not quite 

 hardy with you, mulch the ground 

 very heavily with oak leaves and 

 form a 5 or (1 foot high fence 

 of 3 or -t strands of wire or bars around 

 the bed, interweaving between the wires 

 with spruce, pine or other evergreen 

 branches set close together for a wind- 

 break. X temporary board fence will 

 answer the same purpose. Some people 

 cover their rhododendrons overhead with 

 branches; this requires a skeleton frame 

 erected over the plants, the branches are 

 laid and tied on top of it. Or the 

 branches may be stuck in erect among 

 the plants. Where the winters are very 

 severe, however, and the beds are small 

 it is well to box in the bed both on the 

 sides and overhead. No matter whether 

 the boxing is water tight overhead or not 

 the plants should survive the winter, but 

 we should prefer to have it tight on top, 

 and have an open strip for ventilation at 

 top on the south upright side. This an- 

 nual boxing up however is so laborious 

 that it is much easier and less expensive 

 to lift the plants everj'j'earand heel them 

 in moist earth in a cold dry cellar or close 

 shed. That rhododendrons will submit 

 with perfect grace to this double trans- 

 planting a year, the splendid collections 

 of tender varieties at Wellesley, Brook- 

 line and Concord near Boston and 

 which are treated in this way are ample 

 testimony. 



The best and safest outdoor winter pro- 

 tection for such bareh- hardy plants that 

 can be easily bent down upon the ground 

 is common earth. For clematis, tender 

 roses, southern jasmine, and others, scoop 

 out a little trench lengthwise in the rows, 

 or around the bottom of the stake in the 

 case of isolated plants, then unfasten the 

 plants from their supports if they are 

 tied, prune them if necessary, and lay 

 them down into the little furrows made 

 for them, and now bury them a few 

 inches deep with common earth. The 

 ridge raised in filling over them will shed 

 the water from the crowns; and if any 

 additional protection is needed, let it be 

 given in the way of a heavy mulching of 

 tree leaves with a little litter over them 

 to keep them in place. 



The Fruit Garden. 



THE FRUIT GARDEN. 



If we cultivate and fertilize our 

 orchards we may reasonably hope to 

 get good crops of good fruit; on the 

 other hand, if we do not feed our trees 

 the fruit is apt to be of poor quality, and 

 the trees become enfeebled. We have 

 strong faith in wood ashes spread broad- 

 cast over the orchard: also in heavy 

 dressings of well decomposed manure. 

 This is a good time of the year to apply 

 this dressing. 



Apples.— Many of the trees are (juite 

 leafy yet, this makes it awkward to 

 prune them for a while. But suckers 

 from the root and broken branches in the 

 tops can be cut out. See that recently 

 planted voung trees are securelv staked. 



Fig Trees live and fruit we'll in the 

 open air on Long Island but they have 



got to be laid down and buried over win- 

 ter, and it is now time to do this work. 

 Covering with evergreen branches, tree 

 leaves, and such like means isn't nearly as 

 good as burj'ing the plants with 8 or 10 

 inches deep of earth. 



Pear Trees are now leafless, and if 

 they have been properly attended to be- 

 fore, they will need but little pruning 

 now. They should get what is rctjuired, 

 however. If there is any bark scale on 

 your trees, spray them lightly with kero- 

 sene, and it may be well to get some 

 kerosene butter or strong emulsion and 

 scrub or paint the trunk and limbs with 

 it. 



Grape Vines —Get your vines pruned 

 as soon as possible. We always try to 

 have them pruned before Christmas. In 

 pruning cut out all the j-oung strawy 

 wood, and the long blind canes, no mat- 

 ter be they old or young. Stout, firm, 

 short jointed, well ripened wood is what 

 we want to keep. Don't encourage long 

 shoots. In pruning cut the leading canes 

 well back, and the laterals back to one 

 or two eyes. If your vines are at all 

 tender, after pruning them imfasten them 

 from their stakes or trellis, gather the 

 canes together on the ground, stretching 

 them out straight, and cover them a few 

 inches deep with earth. 



Raspberry bushes.— Cut out the old 

 or d ad canes and shorten back the 

 young or living ones to 3 or 4 feet high, 

 then bend them down in the row, all 

 leaning one way, and cover them with a 

 few inches of earth. In many parts they 

 live very well with burying in winter, but 

 the uncertainties of late winter weather 

 render laying down and covering canes in 

 this way a necessary precaution. 



Blackberries may be treated like 

 raspberry bushes, but don't cut them 

 down so low. As they are quite stiff' to 

 bend and bury, if we tie them down 

 pretty well and stick a few evergreen 

 branches among them to break the wind 

 it will help them greatly. 



Over Dewberries lay a few branches 

 too, to gather leaves and snow. 



Strawberries are benefited by a 

 mulching over winter, this may be of 

 sedge, fern, com stalks, straw, rank 

 stable manure or other litter; spread it 

 evenly over the plantation, covering 

 plants and all. Don't beafraid of having 

 delaj'ed doing this too long, there is more 

 danger in being early than late. We pre- 

 fer doing this work in frosty weather for 

 several reasons: We can do it better, and 

 more evenly and expeditiously when the 

 ground is hard frozen than when it is 

 soft; we are less apt to injure the plants 

 by treading on or about them; and field 

 mice are not so apt to infest a straw- 

 berry patch that is not mulched till late 

 than they would be were the straw cov- 

 ering put on early and while the ground 

 was soft and easilv burrowed. 



RENOVATING AN OLD PEAR ORCHARD. 



G. W. M., Philadelphia writes. "I 

 bought a piece of land on which arc 

 about 50 Seckel pear trees most of which 

 are about the thickness of a man'sthigh. 

 Thej- have been entirely neglected, and 

 the fruit is almost worthless. They are 

 grown trees, however, and as such desir- 

 able from the standpoint of landscape 

 gardening, the place being otherwise tree- 

 less. I have been told that they could be 

 grafted with other varieties of pears. Can 

 j'ou through your very interesting paper 

 suggest the proper treatment." 



If you wish to retain the trees you want 

 to get them into a healthy, thrifty condi- 

 tion no matter whether you keep them as 

 Scckels or graft some other kinds on 



